Should women’s bodies be used to ’sell’ environmentalism? Lots of folks have been discussing the Ecobabes calendar lately, and though I think the photos in the calendar are pretty tasteful (as I think the picture above, of model Betcee May is), and I certainly believe in celebrating women in the environmental movement, there is something that bothers me about the whole thing.
Maybe it’s not really the pictures that bother me, because I love the naked and artfully photographed nude human body, but the fact that there aren’t any naked men doing this? I guess I don’t see equality if it is only one gender shown in their skivvies all the time. While some argue that women’s bodies are more beautiful, I say that’s bunk; I love beautiful bodies, both male, female, transgendered, asexual, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. Finally, if the vast majority of environmentalists are women, shouldn’t we be able to demand some fair play with the images that are used in the promotion of our cause?
I’m not opposed to natural beauty being appreciated, but honestly, I’d like to see some ecohunks too- some young, shirtless guys who work hard for the Earth…I can imagine some forest rangers, environmental scientists and maybe even bloggers (wink, wink) who would look great half-naked in a calendar whose proceeds would benefit green causes. What do you think? Would you buy an EcoHunks calendar in 2008?
Brad Pitt does drive a hybrid after all….
You can find it under the following topic(s): Rants.
Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Eco-Chick RSS Feed
This kind of thing ticks me off, both as a feminist and as someone with environmental concerns. You see it with green fashion too, the same objectification/degradation of women as in mainstream fashion. It’s disgusting. It just goes to show that environmentalists, for all their thinking they’re so much more progressive than everyone else, are as deeply embedded in all the patriarchal bullshit as the rest of us.
December 18th, 2006 at 10:40 amBut what if the objectification is equal-opportunity? Do you object to all nudes, or just female nudes? If we really lived in a world where we saw both male and female bodies selling whatever, would it still be objectionable? I mean, the ancient Romans loved naked men, so I think it’s possible to have both….though I would agree that the patriarchal society means objectification of women- and raping of the environment.
December 18th, 2006 at 11:30 amha ha ha. fair enough. that’s funny that i would stumble accross your blog and see your first post is about modeling. you know your stuff.
December 19th, 2006 at 4:37 amI objectify my boyfriend’s body all the time, and he has noooo objection.
Okay, on a more serious note. People delight in what is beautiful. If we can use our assets in a way that stands by our values, I do not object to that. I can, understand, other’s sentiments, however, of “marketing” and “objectifying” the body, whether male or female. It is a slippery slope. I think b/c the calendar or marketing campaigns don’t always have “layers” is an issue that we need to address and build on as smart consumers.
In marketing, you don’t often get the different layers of humanness behind it. We need smarter products, smarter companies, smarter campaigns, that even if they are showing a nude body or a pretty face, that body or that face represents a value, a mission, a statement…a whole person…who completely and utterly embodies whatever is being promoted.
It’s not a perfect world and I don’t expect that to occur anytime right away, but I think it’s happening slowly.
December 20th, 2006 at 12:59 pmIn total agreement. There should definately be a hunky guys calendar…I think I would much rather hang that one then one with women ;)
December 21st, 2006 at 8:35 amI’m glad to see that I was not the only one who, after seeing the eccobabes calendar, had the reaction of “oh great here we go again”. I’ve never appreciated the objectification of women. I personally think it’s silly to use women or sex to “sell”. I would rather we focused more on people and what they stand for than on what they look like. The issue that I have with seeing it in the environmental movement is that it’s already so prevalent in mainstream society. I’ve always felt the environmental movement was comprised of more thoughtful, deeper people. In some respects to spin a calendar in that way can cheapen the movement making us look like a bunch of superficial idiots jumping on the green bandwagon (not saying that’s what I think anyone represented in the calendar is mind you but at first glance I think it could lessen our impact).
The other issue I have with it is, yeah it’s great to admire beauty but who’s idea of beauty? In our culture as a whole we have such an impossibly NARROW, NARROW, NARROW view of what is beautiful and I have major issue with that. I don’t care if the woman who sits in a tree for nearly 2 years is 24 and fits society’s current narrow standards of beauty. I care about what inside of her makes her do it. I don’t care if she’s 50 with a scar on her right cheek / I care that she has the passion inside of her to drive her beyond what humans can normally accomplish. To me…..that is beautiful regardless of what packaging the person comes in. I’d appreciate seeing a calendar of ALL the beautiful, beautiful people who get up every day and say “I’m going to make a difference today” and go out there and do it. I’d like to see a calendar with all of them old, young, scarred, whatever and then let me decide for myself what I think is beautiful.
December 22nd, 2006 at 11:46 amWell said Karine! That’s a really important point - if you look at great travel photographer’s work of people around the world you often see old, wrinkled visages, lumpy bodies, and missing teeth in the widest smile, all of which show humanity in all it’s different kinds of beauty. I love the image of my grandfather’s faded blue eyes, bulbous nose and wrinkled face in a picture I have of him- he’s smiling and it’s about the most beautiful thing I’ve seen.
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:54 pmKyeann of Treehugger has a great commentary (including a quote from yours truly) on a great post about this whole topic.
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:53 pmYou can see it here!
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:19 pmI got in touch with them before, and I was informed that they will indeed be coming out with a calendar featuring men working for the environment as well.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:30 pm